A giant leap for step-parents?

Background: I have been with my SO and his son (7 yo) for the past 1 year and 8 months. I’ve been constantly around since a month into mine and my SO’s relationship. My SO and I get along with my future stepson’s mother VERY well! Best situation ever. I always pick him up and hang out with him before his dad gets home from work and I go to her house when she throws parties (birthday and family parties)… I’ve also become friends with her friends. She haa a lot of friends with kids, so my stepson always gets to play with kids over there. Unfortunately, we don’t… he has our neighbor kids, but nothing more (community isn’t super strong and ages are quite different).

The story: My SO and I really wanted to start having his friends over last year. We realized how lonely he gets and how active he wants to be. He gets a lot of our attention, but he’s so outgoing, it doesn’t seem fair to have him hang out with the parents all the time. At the end of the school year, I sent him to school with my number and his father’s number so he can give them to his friends. My SO met their parents at a birthday party, so we didn’t think it would be too random. Months later, we still haven’t heard from them, but I guess they call his mother all the time.

We were talking the other night, and we thought that maybe there is still a pretty strong stigma against dads and stepmoms. Well, TODAY! I picked him up early to bring him to a kids event at the local library (for the second time this month) and we ran into one of his friends from preschool and his mother again. I chatted with her the entire time and before we left I asked her if she would like to get together for a playdate. SUCCESS!

I’m not sure if this is that uncommon.. but I feel pretty accomplished 🙂 Also, I’m not from around here, so I don’t have many friends. I always say, “I can’t wait to be a mother with mom friends,” but we’re not ready to have children… waiting until we’re married and then a couple years.

damarajade: Congrats on the playdate! I think it’s awesome that your SS is so lucky to have a bio mom and stepmom that get along so well. I agree with PP, your FI and his son are very lucky to have you.